[Nicky91]

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/travel/new...cid=uxbndlbing

No passenger flights are taking off from Brussels airport all day on Monday due to a strike by security staff.

In a statement, the Belgian hub said: “Brussels airport has closed to all departures due to security strike.

“No departing flights on Monday 20 June.

“Due to the national manifestation and strike of a large part of the security staff of G4S on Monday 20 June, no passenger flights will depart from Brussels airport.

“Passengers are urged not to come to the airport and to rebook their flight.

“Only arriving (and cargo) flights will be carried out.

“Contact your airline to rebook your flight.”

The stoppage is part of a national strike day organised by trade unions ACV, ACLVB and ABVV, demanding help for workers faced with the rising cost of living.

British Airways has cancelled all but one of its five daily flights from London Heathrow to Brussels on Monday. The only remaining service will return empty.

Brussels Airlines flights from the capital to London Heathrow, Birmingham and Manchester have been grounded.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Belgium’s main airport handled over 25 million passengers annually – the same size as London Stansted.

It is a key hub for flights to west and central Africa.

In 2016 two Isil terrorists detonated bombs at Brussels airport, as part of a coordinated attack in which more than 30 people died.

The security provider, G4S, won a contract to operate security at Brussels airport in 2017. It provides aviation and security services at 120 airports worldwide.

Operations at the Belgian capital’s budget airport, Charleroi, appear to be running normally – even though G4S also provides security.

Later this week pilots and cabin crew working for Brussels Airlines are expected to walk out.

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/0...-limits-sales/

Budget airline easyJet has said it will scrap more flights from Schiphol in July and August following the airport’s decision to cap passenger numbers in the peak season.

The airline said it expected to be able to rebook the vast majority of passengers onto an alternative flight within 24 hours. Details of which departures will be affected will be published later in the week.

Schiphol said last week it would limit the number of passengers leaving from the airport to 67,500 a day from July 7 and 72,500 in August. On average 13,500 passengers a day will have their flights cancelled, but the number will be higher on peak days in the second half of July.

EasyJet had already cancelled a number of flights between Amsterdam and London’s Gatwick and Luton airports because of heavy congestion.

CEO Johan Lundgren said he wanted to give passengers time to change their plans before the measures come into force. ‘The vast majority of our customers will not be affected,’ he said.

Dutch national flag carrier KLM, which is Schiphol’s biggest customer, said it was planning to restrict ticket sales for the summer months rather than cancelling flights.

The airline said it did not expect to have to reduce its schedule because it carries large numbers of transfer passengers, who are less affected by the shortage of security staff.

‘We think that limiting the sale of new tickets from Schiphol this summer will be sufficient to comply with the required reduction in the number of passengers boarding at the airport,’ a spokesman said. ‘We do not expect to have to cancel existing bookings on a large scale.

https://www.dutchnews.nl/news/2022/0...l-be-affected/

The Schiphol airport authority will announce later on Thursday how many flights will have to be cancelled during the summer period because of a shortage of security and baggage handlers, the Telegraaf reported.

The news means hundreds of thousands of holiday makers will either be disappointed or will have to book new flights, the paper said. ‘The call centres are ready. It is dramatic,’ one source told the paper.

The airport authority had asked airlines to voluntarily cancel some services in an effort to keep queues down, but none have been prepared to do so on any significant scale.

A letter from tour operator association ANVR to its members says the cancellations will affect ‘several hundred thousand travellers’ and that those aiming to go away between mid July and mid August will be worst affected.

The ANVR has brought in legal advisors to look into taking Schiphol to court. ‘The airport does not consider itself to be responsible for the damage and this is completely unacceptable,’ the leaked letter to tour companies states.

The Netherlands is not the only country where main airports are struggling to cope with post coronavirus staff shortages. Many other airports in western Europe are facing similar problems and in Britain too flights have been cancelled.

Schiphol has been grappling with the problem since the May school holidays. Hundreds of flights have been scrapped and travellers banned from arriving at the airport more than four hours before their flight in an effort to keep down the queues.

The Telegraaf said Schiphol, KLM airline association Barin are still in talks about the cuts and have declined to comment.

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[arista]

Yes Nicky your own nation
Same as the Bloody World


China's Covid-19 buggered the World